When using a digital camera to capture images of a landscape, an image with a wide field of view may often be desired. This may be artificially created by capturing a plurality of images which are then stitched together to create a large image of the landscape.
A most effective result of the stitched image may be obtained by capturing images that are suitable for being stitched together. In this regard, the images should be captured with an appropriate overlap and a good alignment. An overlap is needed to enable the images to be seamlessly stitched together. Further, the final panoramic image is limited in the vertical direction by the top of the lowest image of the plurality of images forming the panorama, and the bottom of the highest image. Thus, a good alignment will enable the final panoramic image to be created with a maximum or near maximum vertical size.
It is difficult to capture images optimally suited for creating a panoramic image even for an experienced photographer. In order to achieve adequate results, it may be required to use a tripod.
Therefore, there is a need for aiding a user in taking images that are suited for forming a panoramic image. In US 2005/0168594, a method for guiding a user through the image-taking procedure for creating a panoramic photograph is disclosed. According to the method, an algorithm displays indicia that are overlaid and moved over a live image during the image-taking process to help align the subsequent image to be taken with the previously recorded image.
Thus, the display simultaneously shows to the user a part of the image that was previously recorded and a part of the image that will be recorded. This helps the user to correctly align and correlate the images to each other.
Another method of helping users to acquire panoramic images is described in P. Baudisch, D. Tan, D. Steedly, E. Rudolph, M. Uyttendaele, C. Pal, and R. Szeliski, “Panoramic Viewfinder: Providing a Real-Time Preview to Help Users Avoid Flaws in Panoramic Pictures”, Proceedings of OZCHI 2005. According to this method, a panoramic viewfinder is used, which simultaneously shows three different types of information to the user; (1) a preview shows the panorama in its current state of completion, (2) the viewfinder shows what the camera sees at the moment, and (3) the real-time cropping frame shows the extent the panorama will have after cropping if the user stopped shooting at this instant.
However, panoramic images are often captured in a bright environment, which makes it hard to view an overlap of images and therefore the display is ineffective in helping the user in the image-taking process. Further, if a self-portrait is desired, the user is not able to see the viewfinder and is not helped at all.
Therefore, an improved user interface for aiding a user in taking several images to be stitched together is desired.